ROCKFORD — The East High School Veterans Memorial Committee had a problem that most nonprofits want.

It raised too much money.

About $5,000 over the $75,000 it wanted to install indoor and outdoor memorials to the school’s Gold Star Boys — the 34 East students or recent graduates who died in service during World War II.

The committee completed its work on the memorials last year. After all of the bookkeeping was done, it didn’t take long for the committee to identify a worthy cause for its excess revenue: veterans.

The committee has donated its extra money to Veterans Drop-in Center. The program is less than 2 years old, but it attracts about 20 military veterans each night. Veterans have access to government assistance and counseling. They can get a hot meal, too.

“Our mission was to educate, honor and inspire,” East science teacher Dustin Long explains. “This was the most practical way we could think of to honor them, to help them.”

The committee couldn’t have chosen a better beneficiary, says LaVerne Moss. The 65-year-old Navy veteran volunteers at the center on Wednesdays.

“We play a lot of cards. We listen to music. Some of the guys play pool,” he says. “The important thing is, someone here understands what you’re going through. It’s not always so easy coming home. People have trauma, inside and out.”

Rosie Fox and Wayne Edwards have been coming to the center for two months. They became homeless when Edwards got into a disagreement with a friend who was letting them stay at his house.

Fox is at the Rockford Rescue Mission Women’s Shelter; Edwards is at the men’s shelter several blocks away. They come to the drop-in center to talk about what they’re going to do now.

“This is our place to get away,” Fox says. “We can relax here and talk. The people are positive. We’re so happy this place is here.”

Air Force veteran Aubrey Singh, 51, lives at Brewington Oaks, a public housing building near downtown. He comes to the center a couple of times each week.

“They have a nice meal. We can get some snacks, get on the computer,” Singh says. “I get tired of seeing the same old people. I like to get out and see other people. Everybody here has a story.”

The donation from the Gold Star Boys will help the center stay open and, perhaps, expand.

“We need people to know what we are doing here,” says Pat Ambrose, the program’s volunteer director. “We want to be here for all veterans.”

The Gold Star Boys continue to inspire students at East High School, as well. There’s the memorial that most students pass each day as they go to and from class. And there’s the discussions that take place in classes like history.

Page 2 of 2 -
“East High School has such a rich tradition that’s passed down from year to year,” social studies teacher George Bathje says. “The Gold Star Boys really help the stories of World War II mean something to today’s young people.”

“They walked the same halls as me,” 16-year-old junior Nate Lammon says. “They gave up their lives so we could be free and go to school here.”